Hope you had a great Christmas. I spent my holiday just relaxing around the house with Anne and the kids. We actually had a tornado-like storm down here, so the weather wasn’t really conducive to anything else, although the day before I did go out fishing with my younger son and daughter and I actually got a fish — if you want to call it that. I caught a bass so small; my puppy could have used it for a chew toy.

It’s very difficult to fish this time of year — too cold for the fish to come out of hiding for the most part.

Was wondering if you saw the same sad news I did yesterday? The “Godfather Of Soul”, James Brown, passed away at age 78. During the course of Brown’s career, he was also referred to as “Soul Brother Number One”, “Mr. Dynamite”, “The Hardest-Working Man in Show Business”, and several other nick-names — all alluding to his feverish performances and work ethic.

Brown, who helped support his family by picking cotton as a young child, did not have an easy life – often times as a result of the decisions and choices he made about the situations he found himself in.

But like most leaders and people who break down new barriers and set new standard, James’ dissatisfaction with the status quo was one of his greatest attributes, and one of the driving forces behind his inventiveness. In fact, one of the mourners at Brown’s funeral put it best when he said, Brown “did with music what Martin Luther King did with laws…it just made you want to go and do things for yourself.”

Brown started cranking out one hit after another in the early 1960’s, including Papa’s Got A Brand New Bag… I Got You (usually known as I Feel Good)… and one of my favorites from 1965, “It’s A Man’s Man’s Man’s World.”

In fact, Brown had over 3 dozen hits make the Billboard top 10 over his career, including his now-famous “Sekxs Machine”. Pretty impressive for a guy who used to shine shoes in a radio station for a living, isn’t it? (In what SCREAMS of poetic justice, Brown later BOUGHT the radio station where he used to shine shoes.)

Brown once said, “This is a man’s world, but it would be nothing, nothing without a woman to care.” And who would know this better than Brown — he had 4 wives and MORE than his fair share of women over his lifetime.

Rest in peace James.

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Now go sell something, Craig Garber